Man Accused Of Slaying, Rape Convicted In Similar Case

Anthony Politi Arrested At Slaying Scene

The man accused of a rape and murder in Louisville faced a judge for the first time in this case Tuesday morning.

Anthony Politi, 39, is accused of strangling the victim, 45-year-old Edwina Cook Adkins, and raping her with a sexual device.

Arraignment Video

Politi appeared with self-inflicted razor cuts on his arms to answer to the charges of murder, rape and sodomy.

"This warrants $1 million bond. I'm going to ask for a bond increase," said county attorney Pamela Rochester.

Politi?s bail was set at $500,000 by the judge.

The Louisville case was not the first time Politi has been accused of such acts.

Politi was charged with an attempted rape in Taylor County in 2007. The charge was amended to wanton endangerment because police said the victim was terrified of Politi and accepted the plea by Politi's attorneys.

Politi was sentenced to 7 years in prison in that case.

The lead detective in the case from Taylor County said she was shocked that Politi was out of prison and had no idea he had been released.

The detective said the victim hadn't been notified either.

The detective said the only difference between Cook-Adkins and her victim was that the victim in Taylor County survived.

Monday night, Louisville Metro police found Cook-Adkins dead on the scene inside a house on West Kentucky Street.

Police found Politi at the scene, inside the house, where he confessed and said he and Cook-Adkins were engaged in sexual activity when he repeatedly assaulted her with a sexual device causing severe injury, despite her screams for him to stop.

"The suspect stated he put his hand on the victims neck to cut off her air supply to stop her from screaming. Victim was dead at the scene," Rochester said, reading the charges against Politi.